Define

According to the Dead Sea Scrolls: Unleavened Bread is a week long festival occurring from Wednesday, Nisan 15 through Tuesday, Nisan 21.

Unleavened bread - when we come out of Egypt, we come with no sin attached to us.

At the time of Passover we are called to take the leaven out of our homes, leaven represents sin. John-02:13 - the Passover was at hand. A time to examine our own temples.

John-02:18 Just as Moses built the tabernacle, so Jesus would build the new tabernacle in our hearts.

In the same way the plagues took place at the time of Exodus, they take place in Jesus

first water turned to blood - Jesus turned water into wine
last death of first born, Jesus was the first born

Have you left Egypt/the world in haste? Have you cleaned your temple of the leaven/sin?

Terms

These words emphasize themes of haste (no time for dough to rise during the Exodus), purity (no fermentation/souring), simplicity/humility (plain bread vs. puffed-up leavened bread), and remembrance of deliverance from Egypt. In Scripture, eating matzah is both a command and a symbol of sincerity and holiness.

The main Hebrew word for unleavened bread (or unleavened cakes)

matstsâh or matzah / matzo (מַצָּה)
- Pronunciation: mats-tsaw' (often pronounced "mat-zah" in modern Hebrew)
- It specifically refers to bread or cake made without leaven (yeast or any rising agent).
- Literally derived from the root מָצַץ (māṣaṣ, H4711), which carries the idea of "greedily devouring for sweetness" or "sucking out."
  - Thus, it properly means "sweetness" — in the sense of something not soured or bittered by fermentation/yeast. It is "sweet" because it remains plain and unfermented.
- In context, it is an unfermented cake or loaf, and can also elliptically refer to the Feast of Passover/Unleavened Bread (because no leaven was used).
  - This is the word translated as "unleavened bread" or "unleavened cakes" throughout the Old Testament passages you listed earlier (e.g., Exodus 12:8, 12:15, Leviticus 2:4, Deuteronomy 16:3, etc.).
  - Plural form: מַצּוֹת (matzot).

The general Hebrew word for bread

lechem (לֶחֶם)
- Pronunciation: lekh-em
- The ordinary word for bread, food made from grain (usually wheat or barley).
- It can refer to leavened or unleavened bread depending on context.
- Broader meaning includes food in general (e.g., "bread of affliction" in Deuteronomy 16:3 is lechem oni, where oni means affliction, poverty, or oppression — referring to the simple, hasty bread eaten during the Exodus).
  - In the context of unleavened bread, the Bible often combines it with matzah, such as "unleavened bread" (matzot) or simply calls the specific item matzah while using lechem for the concept of bread. No single standalone Hebrew adjective for "unleavened" exists apart from matzah; the concept is conveyed directly by the noun matzah (meaning bread/cake that is unleavened).

chametz or hametz (חָמֵץ) — the opposite of unleavened: leavened bread or anything fermented/soured. It symbolizes corruption or sin in many biblical interpretations.

In the New Testament (Greek), the equivalent is ἄζυμος (azymos), meaning "unleavened," which appears in passages like 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 ("unleavened bread of sincerity and truth").

Called into Righteousness:

As we observe this appointed time of God's, we are to remember God provides for us. We are to clean out all the lawlessness (sin) in our houses. Just as he prepared a way through the wilderness into the promised land for the Israelites, he has prepared a way into righteousness and the Holy Place through his son, Jesus. Jesus has paid the ransom for those have faith in him and obey. On this day we remember his triumphant descent - the original Holy Saturday.

God appointed the festival of Unleavened Bread for whoever in all generations, to remember this is the day whoevers were brought out of bondage.

Celebrate at the place God chooses.
This was fulfilled when Jesus was buried.

The Bronze Laver

Days

There is a first and last day for this Feast. It lasts for seven (07) days.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is a seven-day observance instituted by God as a perpetual statute for Israel, directly tied to the Exodus from Egypt. It begins on the 15th day of the first month (the day after the Passover on the 14th) and ends on the 21st day. The Scriptures describe its first day and its seventh (last) day as special “holy convocations” (days of sacred assembly with no regular work allowed), while the entire period requires eating only unleavened bread and removing all leaven from the homes. No passage explains a symbolic or hidden reason for choosing exactly seven days or for designating only the first and last days as convocations beyond the fact that God commanded it this way as a memorial of deliverance.

Exodus 12:15-20 (the original institution on the night of the Exodus)
Leviticus 23:5-8 (the formal calendar of feasts)
Numbers 28:16-25 and Deuteronomy 16:1-8 repeat the same seven-day structure

Scriptures

Including direct mentions of “unleavened bread,” “unleavened cakes,” the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or related instructions/commands. Verses are listed in canonical/biblical order:

Genesis 19:3 — And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
Exodus 12:8 — And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Exodus 12:15 — Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
Exodus 12:17 — And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
Exodus 12:18 — In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
Exodus 12:20 — Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.
Exodus 12:39 — And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.
Exodus 13:6 — Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the LORD.
Exodus 13:7 — Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters.
Exodus 23:15 — Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
Exodus 29:2 — And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour shalt thou make them.
Exodus 29:23 — And one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the LORD.
Exodus 34:18 — The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.
Leviticus 2:4 — And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.
Leviticus 2:5 — And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil.
Leviticus 6:16 — And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it.
Leviticus 7:12 — If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried.
Leviticus 8:2 — Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread.
Leviticus 8:26 — And out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before the LORD, he took one unleavened cake, and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and put them on the fat, and upon the right shoulder.
Leviticus 23:6 — And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
Numbers 6:15 — And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering, and their drink offerings.
Numbers 6:17 — And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering, and his drink offering.
Numbers 6:19 — And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after the hair of his separation is shaven.
Numbers 9:11 — The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Numbers 28:17 — And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.
Deuteronomy 16:3 — Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.
Deuteronomy 16:8 — Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work therein.
Deuteronomy 16:16 — Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty.
Joshua 5:11 — And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
Judges 6:19 — And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.
Judges 6:20 — And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.
Judges 6:21 — Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.
1 Samuel 28:24 — And the woman had a fat calf in the house; and she hasted, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread thereof.
2 Kings 23:9 — Nevertheless the priests of the high places came not up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, but they did eat of the unleavened bread among their brethren.
1 Chronicles 23:29 — Both for the shewbread, and for the fine flour for meat offering, and for the unleavened cakes, and for that which is baked in the pan, and for the fried cake, and for all manner of measure and size.
2 Chronicles 8:13 — Even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.
2 Chronicles 30:13 — And there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great congregation.
2 Chronicles 30:21 — And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the LORD.
2 Chronicles 35:17 — And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.
Ezra 6:22 — And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.
Ezekiel 45:21 — In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.
Matthew 26:17 — Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
Mark 14:1 — After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.
Mark 14:12 — And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?
Luke 22:1 — Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.
Luke 22:7 — Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.
Acts 12:3 — And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
Acts 20:6 — And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.
1 Corinthians 5:7 — Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.
1 Corinthians 5:8 — Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

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